Monthly workshop suggestion

Attendance at May’s workshop was extremely low, not at all justifying what we pay to use the space, and thus there is discussion among the board members once again about either encouraging members to make more use of this resource, or being forced to curtail it. Always trying to do the more positive thing, the board is currently reviewing ways to make the workshops more enticing. One possibility we will be discussing is including some sort of informal demonstration at every workshop that reviews the methods we learned from our speaker earlier in the month. I am personally excited about this proposal because it is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been imagining for some time now.
Had I been able to attend the May workshop, one of my ideas for what to do there had been to bring my own trident maple and practice the techniques Peter Tea discussed two weeks prior. Whether or not me working on one of my trees is much of an educational draw is debatable, but perhaps it’s not the skill of the person doing the work, or even the quality of the tree, that are important, but rather having it known to all club members that somebody will be at every workshop reviewing the information gleaned from that month’s presenter. Think about it and maybe let a board member know what you think of this idea.

To support the foregoing proposal, I am planning to bring my best and biggest juniper to the workshop on June 21st to try my hand at some of the carving methods Jay will be teaching us on the 7th. This is the tree that Peter Tea worked on as part of our last Fall Show, in 2014. I have already done extensive carving on it, but it is ready to have a lot more done to it. So please consider coming to the June workshop even if you don’t have anything to work on yourself, as I will be attempting a follow-up to Jay’s presentation from a beginner’s perspective. If you have something you would like to carve yourself, I strongly encourage others to bring trees to carve so we can all actively learn by doing together. And don’t forget carving tools!

I’m sure attendance will be high at the June workshop anyway, because that will be your last opportunity to get advice about your trees before the Marin County Fair Show in July. The Fair replaces our July meeting, so there’s nothing more to anticipate there than a smooth, outstanding show. In August we get Peter Tea again, so put August 2nd on your calendar.

Well, that’s a lot to think about. So get to work on your trees and meditate on some of these ideas while you work.